Chapter 13: The big blizzard

The new year started with clouds gathering on the horizon. The weather forecast predicted lots of precipitation, and while down in the city most of that might be rain, it was going to be all snow at our altitude. We were only about 200m higher than the city, but city temperatures were also higher due to lost of houses and heating. In winter, district 12 temperatures were on average 3-5 degrees lower than those in the city. Getting lots of snow in the inter months was, or so I had been told when moving here, nothing unusual at all.

On January 2nd I had my hands double check the high poles we had on the sides of the roads on the site to make sure that the snowplough could easily detect where the roads ended. In addition, I visited the district mayor, Mr. Undersee, and offered to help with ploughing in the district if snowfall was really bad. I also pointed out that we had a large stack of firewood available at the edge of the forest, and citizens were encouraged to take some of that if they were running out. Further I had some spare supplies, tinned food and such, delivered to the Hob so that citizens running out of food could get some. Mayor Undersee appreciated my offer and was glad that somebody outside of the Seam cared.

During the night to January 3rd snow started to fall. At first it was a very light snowfall, and in the morning there were just a few centimeters on the ground. Children were running around outside on the roads and having fun, and a few tried to find out if this was good enough for a sled already. Temperatures were below zero all of the time, so that no snow melted on the ground. Around noon time the sun was out for a few hours; the Madisons came for a quick visit, and we walked outside for a while. Even before we were back, more snow came down, and towards the evening the snowfall increased in intensity. There was a snow and blizzard warning now out on the weather forecast, and I planned to get up early next morning to check.

Indeed, on the next morning everything looked white outside. Well, of course daylight was still a few hours away and I needed to rely on what I could see below the streetlights, but anyway. I had discussed plans with my employees the day before, and I knew that my farmer, Mr. Brown, would probably be out already with the big tractor and attached snowplough, taking care of the roads on site. Mr. Miller and I had attached a snowplough and snowchains to my Unimog the day before, and the exit ramp to my subterranean car park had a heated surface, so that this was going to be clear. Knowing that the city car park was probably going to take of this area last, I decided to make an attempt to clear a few main streets in district 12.

Taking my big Unimog out in snow was like playing with a toy for adults. I had lots of fun pushing snow around when I started driving and ploughing close to my home. Snow accumulation seemed to be between 20 and 30 cm, which was just fine for the powerful truck and the big snowplough. The big additional headlights on top of the cabin made sure that I could see where I was going before and at dawn, and I was slowly making way towards the Seam. As expected, no city plough had been here yet, and I slowly made progress clearing the main access road to and through the Seam. When I passed the Everdeen residence some time later, I saw Prim looking out of a window with big eyes. I stopped the truck and jumped out to go in for a moment, and Prim opened the door:

"Timotheus, how did you manage to get here in all of that snow?"

"Good morning to you, too, Primrose!"

"Oh, sorry, good morning"

"Well, do you see my big truck outside?"

"That's yours?"

"Yes it is, and the big snowplough helps to push the snow aside. Would you like to join me for a ride?"

"Can I? Yes, please! Just wait a second..."

Primrose was dressed for outside in record time, and I quickly went into the kitchen to greet her mother and tell her that I'd take Prim for a quick ride.

Back outside I helped Prim up to the cabin – in an Unimog, you almost need to climb up – and took my place at the wheel again. We spent a couple of hours or so to clear the main streets, and by then the Unimog's battery was almost empty and the range extender started to whir. When I brought Prim back home she invited me to breakfast, and I gladly accepted after I had talked to her mother to find out if that was all right with her.

Mrs. Everdeen told me: "Katniss is out checking the paths to the forest, to see if citizens can reach the firewood supplies; she should be back any moment."

Just as she finished, Katniss came back from outside and also sat down for breakfast. Between bites she reported: "There's even more snow between here and the forest than I thought. It was almost impossible even getting to the forest edge!"

"How is the ground between Seam and forest?"

"Partially uneven, with bushes and that. I doubt that the big truck has a chance to clear it."

"Okay – let me get one of my mobile snowblowers later on and see how that works. Can you round up a couple of strong men to operate it?"

"I think that I can – the men cannot get to work today anyway – Gale and some of his friends should be available."

"Right – can you have them meet me here again in two hours or so?"

Katniss just nodded, and after breakfast was completed, I left again. At home, I quickly attached a high power charger cable to the truck, and I got Mr. Miller's help to lift a small mobile snowblower up to the Unimog's flatbed. Close to the arranged time the battery was more than half full again and I set off to deliver the snowblower to the Seam. Gale and a couple of his friends waited for me; we unloaded the snowblower and I told them how to operate it. Handling was not complicated at all, and in no time that had started to work on the path towards the forest edge, so that access to the emergency firewood storage was possible.

Similar to the day before, the sun came out briefly around noon time, and after lunch I used the time for a quick walk around together with Haymitch. We double checked that the wind generators we had were properly prepared and lubricated and that the solar panels were clear. Fortunately, due to the inclination the panels needed to have in winter to fully catch the rays from the low sun, no snow accumulation was possible on them anyway. Also, the poles the panels were mounted on needed to be checked, but so far everything was all right and no damages apparent.

Haymitch advised: "You know, with those weather conditions, it probably won't be long before main power is out. I have seen it before."

I was curious: "But this area has harsh weather conditions on a regular basis. I have browsed through past weather reports, and a big blizzard seems to happen every other year or so. This was one of the reasons for me to pick the site, for testing equipment under adverse conditions. Surely the power companies know about that?"

Haymitch nodded and explained: "Sure they do. However, they compare cost between either spending a lot of money to have the power poles built very sturdily to withstand the storms and blizzards or building them much more cheaply and getting repair teams out several times a year. From what I have seen and heard, the second option seems to be cheaper. Having some areas without power for hours or days is obviously not a big concern for them."

I continued: "We should be independent here on our site anyway, right?"

Haymitch confirmed: "Yes, sure, with all of the preparations done this year, we should be for sure. The blizzard drives the wind generators at full power output, and we get solar power for a few hours when the sun comes out briefly. We also have a contribution from the small biomass plant the farmers are operating, and we have a small battery storage. Our site itself will be fine, specifically as we have all of our internal power lines underground."

Dusk was coming and the sun was already hiding behind the mountains again. While we were looking down towards the merchant area of district 12, which was brightly illuminated with storefronts and streetlights, suddenly all of those lights went out at once, including the street lights up to my home, whereas lights in my home and around were still on. Also, the main street into the Seam still had the street lights on as this was powered from our site.

"Perfect timing", my director and friend commented, "here we go. Main power is out!"

"How do citizens cope with that?"

"Everybody knows that main power is not reliable. Not only do we have outages due to adverse weather conditions more or less on a regular basis, but also is district 12 usually one of the first to be cut off during a brownout. This area does not have many means of electricity storage, and when demand is too high for any reason, they sometimes cut off a few areas for a few hours. Most district 12 residents heat their homes with gas or firewood and very few rely on electricity. Even the bakery ovens run on gas and wood, I think. Electricity is mostly a commodity rather than a necessity around here."

At the end of our tour snowfall started again, and I visited the Madison family, asking if everything was all right in their home. From the back porch of their home one could look around, and they had noticed that main power was out. Mrs. Madison was concerned: "How long will power here last now that main power is out?"

I replied: "Don't worry about that. Out power supply on site is fully independent of main power from the city, and all of our power lines are underground. We might have to save on spending if we have full cloud cover and no wind, but with an ongoing snowstorm the wind generators can supply more than what we need already. I need a reliable power supply for my work, and this a perfect test environment to see how well it actually performs."

Rue had noticed me and asked: "Can I come over with you for some time, please?"

I looked at her mother and commented: "I am done with my work for today. If you don't mind, your daughter is welcome to join me. Actually, would your husband and you want to come as well, and maybe we can spend a few hours to relax in front of the fireplace?"

She smiled and added: "Great idea. I'd love to, and let me just check if my husband likes the idea as well."

He did, and soon all four of us walked back to my home. I told my housekeeper that we had company and asked her to prepare supper for all of us. We made ourselves comfortable in the big living room, with a fire raging in the fireplace and nice look outside through the big thick paned windows. As I liked the idea of having big windows in my living room, but hated to lose too much energy through them, I had special insulation windows installed, manufactured by one of the companies owned by my family. Special reinforced panes were also a good idea as hail was not exactly rare in this region.

Most of the evening we were just sitting here in semidarkness, looking out to see the city of Panem, which was today only partially lighted. Apparently not only district 12, but also some other areas were affected by the power outage. We had supper together and talked about various topics, and finally I mentioned that I'd want to get to bed early, because I was going to operate my Unimog again tomorrow morning for snowploughing. Rue looked at me, and looking her in the big doe like eyes I was able to anticipate the question she was going to ask; thus I smiled and asked: "Would you want to stay here for the night?" She only nodded, but seemed to be happy that I invited her.

Mrs. Madison told me: "Well, she needs a restful sleep again, I guess. Bring her back tomorrow?"

I nodded: "I will do that of course. If she wants, I can take her on the snowploughing ride tomorrow, and we should be back before noon – good enough for you?"

Mrs. Madison confirmed: "My husband and I will be happy to have a chance to sleep in for one day! Most of the time we can't because Rue is up very early..."

She did not have to continue, as I understood that their sleep was normally frequently interrupted by Rue's nightmares. Rue and I said good night to her parents, I informed Mrs. Miller about our guest, and after a bathroom visit and myself changing into my comfortable home clothes Rue and I sat down on the couch, watching the remaining embers of the big fire we had had in the fireplace. While I leaned back, Rue wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my chest, and a few minutes later she was asleep.

As I had asked, Mr. Miller came in early on the next morning to wake me up. I wanted to make sure to be up early to check the situation and react accordingly. As we had gone to sleep early last night, Rue also was quite rested, and I asked if she wanted to join me for a ride. She nodded, and after a quick breakfast we went down to the parking area and I started my fully charged Unimog again.

When we were out of the underground parking area, we found that quite some more snow had fallen during the night, so that the total accumulation was now more than half a meter. My sturdy vehicle got to work, and I more or less cleared the same streets as I had cleared on the day before. Again, no city vehicle was around; I assumed that the city vehicles were busy to clear the streets of what the city bosses considered more important districts. When we passed the Everdeen home, I could see Prim looking out of a window, and when she saw my truck, she came running outside quickly. I stopped and waved for her to jump in, so that I had two enthusiastic girls joining me for the remainder of my snow clearing run. On the side towards the forest I also stopped to saw what happened there, and I was glad to see a few young men again operating the snowblower to gain access to the supply of firewood. For next year. I thought, I might want to place the emergency supply closer to the Seam.

Over the next few days the total snow accumulation added up to slightly more than one meter, which was more than a typical winter provided, even here in district 12. Thanks to the preparations we had done before, nobody had to die due to lack of food or lack of heat, and Mayor Undersee was very happy to learn about that. I promised to write a report on everything together with his daughter Madge, who worked as kind of an interface person between my site and the district office; the good Mayor wanted to be prepared for coming years and winters. I knew that he was in a somewhat difficult situation as he did not get the resources he needed from Panem, and he had to work with the limited means he had access to.

I did not tell him that right away, but this was one of the reasons my site was here. Everybody could set up power plants and other things with almost unlimited resources, but we wanted to find out what could be done in areas of the world with very limited resources and means, and although Panem had plenty of resources, distribution was an issue, and district 12 was definitely unprivileged. In addition the harsh and varied weather conditions made for an almost ideal test environment.

Once the blizzard was over and more or less normal winter conditions had settled in, Wiress came over again and reminded me that I had promised to get her started. I walked us over to the main admin building and we sat together with Haymitch for some paperwork and conversation. Fortunately the sun was out again, although at quite low temperatures, and I suggested that Haymitch should give her a guide tour until the sun was going down again.

When I talked to Haymitch a few days later, once school had started again after the winter holidays, he told me that Wiress had asked a few very smart question during the tour and that he was looking forward to working with her.

[Author's Note: Due to the very low number of views, favorites, and reviews I am not sure it it makes sense to continue the story. I'd appreciate a few reviews a lot to learn about reader opinion!]